Musical legacy describes the beginnings of this gifted singer/songwriter/producer/musician. Born Dernst Emile, 2nd to an accomplished musician and an amazingly talented singer, there was never a moment that music has not been around D.Emile. At the age of three years old, his father was giving a piano lesson to a student that could not perform the Hanon Virtuoso Pianist Exercises and “Dee” (as he is known to family and friends) went over to the piano and performed the exercise with ease. And that was the beginning.You could always find D.Emile sitting at the piano playing and figuring out melodies of songs that he heard on the radio. Dee is adept at both reading music and playing by ear.
His father seeing his interest, started teaching him how to play the piano, as well as how to read music. He also plays the drums, the bass and acoustic guitar.His thoughts always on song structure, you can hear his influences from the greats: Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Wes Montgomery, Chick Corea, and John Coltrane. “I love the way Stevie Wonder writes a song, from his arrangements, to his melodies and harmonic structures, as well as his lyrics. They just move together so well, it’s like unbelievable! When I think of songs like “As”, “Lately”, I just want to be able to make the lyrics and the music blend together and give you that feeling.” However, Dee’s greatest influence is his father, an accomplished jazz musician in his own right. “I would love to be half of what my dad is. He is amazing and I can’t seem to get enough of listening to him and watching him play. Just when I think I’m getting something, he turns around and does something that makes me crazy.
I gotta figure out how he did that.”Even though he is only 21 years old, he has been very diligent about his gift and making good music. He’s had collaborations with Grammy Award winning songwriters, Full Force and Gordon Chambers; songwriter/producer Keri Lewis of Mint Condition and now the Grammy Award winning super producer, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins. Dee has placements on Rihanna’s debut album, “Music of the Sun”, Mary J Blige’s “The Breakthrough” and now Janet Jackson’s upcoming album, “Discipline”. He is eager and always trying to come up with something new and innovative, cranking out 2-3 songs &/or tracks in a session. He does not believe in wasting time. “Music is a journey that everyone is taking a ride on. I just want to take my seat and paint my own picture and let the world interpret what they want from it. R&B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Classical, I want to do it all!”Although he’s barely out of his teens, he is very focused and eager to be a great force in the music industry. “I believe that music is a gift, and that my abilities are gifts from God, that I cannot take for granted. I’m just thankful to have parents who nurtured this gift to make me who I am today. God blessed me with two beautiful parents. My family has been a major source of strength and inspiration for me.”
